@@Signmonkey So here we are 2 years later and no data. Anyway, there is so much more power to be captured from that water than you're catching. You guys and your V-belts. Not sure why so many people like to give up horse power to V-belts.
@@selahman1074 Yes that belt. I would go with a serpentine belt if I had no choice but to use a belt. Those V-belts rob a lot of power. Especially as torque increases. The best alternative would be a gear box. Yes they cost more but they last much longer, require less maintenance, and your power output would be greater. V-belt loss can be as much 175watts on a 25amp draw even with proper belt tension. That's a lot on micro hydro systems. Not just due to creeping/slipping but also friction. The absolute best would be direct drive. I'm not sure if that's applicable with an Archimedes as they turn so slow. The alternator would have to be much larger in diameter to be effective at low rpm's for direct drive.
I am Australian but this year was in the UK for 10 weeks and visited Cragside, the country home built by William Armstrong, a 19th century industrial giant, now run by the National Trust This house was the first house in England to have electrical power, generated by his own Archimedes screw just like yours. It powers the whole house, completely off grid, over 240 LED light globes, refrigerators and computers etc. The comments decrying the worth of such an installation obviously do not understand physics in general or gravity in particular!
I was fascinated by this as a kid and remember seeing films where Egyptians watered their fields using the same age old technology, its refreshing to see it hasn't been lost and is still pertinent today. Its what in the U.K. we refer to as low technology but to see modern applications is great to see.
Great project, beautiful turbine ! It would be really useful to others if power produced, flow rate and the screw dimensions were given. From looking at it while running, I guesstimate a power output of 400 watts. Here is how I guesstimated: Generated Power (watts) = electrical (generator cables, convertors etc) efficiency 80%) x turbine efficiency (50%) x water flow rate (0.05 m^3/sec= 50 liters/sec) x total head (2 m = length(4m) x Sine(30deg)) x density of water (1000kg/m^3) x gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/sec^2)) =0.8x 0.5x0.05x2.0x1000x9.8 = 398 watts. Turbine efficiency can be significantly more or less than 50% depending on the details of the design. Water flow rate is the primary uncertainty. I would love to know how close my guess is !
If we knew the flow rate and the height the water falls we could at least get a general idea. These screws aren't very efficient due to drag. Now that I think about it I doubt it even makes a single horsepower.
Actually, in most mountainous areas creeks still keep flowing at least a little when winter comes, it might be less than a third of what it is normally, and a tenth of summer melt flows but it still chooches!
You could see it was running a car alternator, so it not producing massive amounts , and notice how much load was coming off when he unplugged those two things alone give fair estimate of production, well done nice project
This is really neat, I have always wanted to build something that does exactly what you have it doing at one of the creeks on my dads farm so this is a really interesting concept to me
kwb it produces aprox. 2.5 lbs of screws daily depending on screw type, however metric threads take longer as the screw producer has to turn in metric intervals to produce nessessary voltplunges for the wtf'er.
Really cool! Nice job--I wanted to do this years ago while living next to an abandoned mill foundation--the spillway was just screaming to be harnessed into a bit of energy.
Beautiful design that can heat up an infrared sauna and the green house too :-) Basically free heating and free light for the home. We can be happy about it !
Cut him some slack folks. No good deed of presenting a neat power generation idea to the off grid, techie community, will ever go un-punished, without full disclosure. An excellent demonstration in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how it performs over time and yes if you could provide some output information. That would be very interesting to hear. I imagine that grit or small stones may be an issue. Possibly wedging between the screw and casing. Have you had any issues with this?
I think this is a GREAT video. I agree with mikhaelis that it would be nice to know how much power you are producing per day or week. And the DIY of how you made your screw and what type of generator you are using on it. For homesteaders this idea is of great importance. I hope you would do a video on the building of it. Thanks.
it caught me by surprise also to see it being used in reverse, I like the concept and would like to take a little more in depth look at the process and possibilities.
Pardon my language Sir! But this is Badass! I'm a free energy seeking individual and if I had property and a creek, I'm definitely doing this. Thanks for the share.
You shouldn't call it free energy, because that means something else. This is just a form of solar power, which is great stuff, but doesn't break any laws of physics. :)
An open aqueduct offering a bigger cross sectional area, would be more efficient than the delivery pipe that you have chosen to use, to feed the turbine, as it would have less friction and less fall required to shift the water to the turbine intake, which means you would have more available head, and could therefore install the screw turbine on a steeper angle, or make it's screw longer, to take advantage of the additional head, which in turn means a better wattage yield.
This application can be applied to wave generators with water level riser stacks where air pressure+wave crash momentum raises the water inside to drip down.
Congratulations! Nice system and nice video. Good to see something i would like to make for myself. One question. How did you make the screw? In my country already built are not available. Thanks in advance.
That's kinda cool; looks like it could reduce the amount of filtering fiddle-faddle needed with "modern" turbine generators. Just keep the bigger rocks and debris out and your good. It may not be as efficient, but I'm lazy and would rather not go out every other day to clean screens out...
Hi Sign Monkey! I have a question. I was looking through the comments and saw that you made this screw yourself. I was wondering how exactly you did that or what process you used to model/design it and also what material it is made of? I am currently a senior in university and working on a graduation project and would like to implement an Archimedes screw into the design. I am trying to gather information on how to get/build a screw this size. Thanks! Also, awesome video and idea!
Increase the head available at the input of the blade, flow rate is ok. You will get more power than that. As power = ρgQHη Where ρ = density η = Efficiency of turbine g = acceleration due to gravity Q = discharge of flow H = net head available at the inlet of turbine Increase H, increase power
🔵 A (properly designed) paddlewheel would offer higher torque-output for the amount of water you have going through it and would drive a larger generator!
If you spin it in the other direction with a motor or crank it by hand, it will pump water uphill. That's what the Archimedes screw was originally invented for.
This is a pretty amazing construction! What I'm thinking: What the would the difference be if you didn't have that long screw and you just did a small fan/turbine at the end: you would get the same speed, the difference though with your screw is that you have enormous torque and this you can leverage by using a much bigger generator motor for more power.
Making, Cooking, Fixing I’d like to know if having the screw vertical changes the speed and also some means of knowing how long the screw needs to be to produce the required torque for a given rpm, since things like this could work on house down pipes or in lower head environments.
So I see someone else already asked about power output. I see what looks like a regular automotive alternator there... which would mean 13.8 volts and maybe 10-20 amps.. so that thing probably isnt putting out more than 100 or so watts... but 24/7 means good steady energy...
It would be so neat to build a mandrel bender with an inductive heating element to create spiral tubing creating low power requirement water lift sections very much like your power sections.
How does this Compare with a Micro Hydro charging system in Wattage for the amount of water? I like your idea! I was just wondering the other day how efficient a Archimedes screw would be?
You could use it to power signs at night., however this design has less capability than a paddle wheel and a water jet especially in the department of portability and cost. It requires higher volume of water for the same output of a water jet and wheel design. Looks neat though.
Would be great to know how much electricity you're producing with it. Also, with the generator unplugged how much effort it takes to stop the screw turning. I reckon it would have a load of torque. Nice video.
awesome . First one I've seen using a screw . I am curious as to how efficient it is compared to something like an overshot wheel or a nozzle jet powered pelton wheel .
I suspect it's not as efficient as a pail wheel or some other design. But, it sure is cool. I like the clear plastic top so you could see it in motion. And like other people, we want the speeds and feeds and how did you make it.
A simple way to look at it is to remember that "power" is the ability to lift a given weight a given height in one second. In the US: 1HP = lift 550 pounds one foot in one second. This thing can be thought of at taking power out by lowering a given weight of water a given distance each second. Thus to get more power out, you need to either work with more water every second or increase the distance you allow it to go down by
That unit looked awfully well made for some cobble-up. Is this a repurposed lift screw rig? If not, how about a vid on how it was made in your home shop?
It looks like that stream slopes down a fair bit after the waterfall, what is the total head of the stream across your property? Would you produce more power by building a small dam (4'-6' tall just to create a small settling pool) adding a Coanda screen intake and diverting the stream flow into a penstock down to a Turgo turbine at the lowest point of the stream.
Surely the efficiency of water wheel would be better that an Archimedes screw? The water flow is pushing on the outermost edge of the wheel and momentum would mean it gets more efficient after it's started up. The screw on the other hand is actually designed to move water uphill and not optimised for the water to drive it, maybe if it was totally submerged and the pressure was high enough but it'd be acting like a turbine then and driving the water out with a lot of force. I just don't see the advantage of using an Archimedes screw, invented to move water to a higher plane, over a water wheel, that was actually invented to harness energy from the flow of water.
I can see one advantage of the setup. Namely, that you can generate power with a lower profile. For example, this setup could probably run underground if you needed it to, so in communities with visibility issues or building permits this would actually be a good idea. However, I can think of another good to use for it: as part of the apparatus that leave the water to a water wheel channel. in fact, I'd replace all of those pipes with thisata slight incline and put the wheel under the end of it.
the length; the screw is like 5 to 10 smaller turbines in a row; it actually does catch the energy better, but ... he didn't set it up right; the water flow needs to be higher and the gap between the screw and the gutter has to be tiny
If designed effectively this could be a practical solution. I am designer, I would put the generator in side the tube of the screw body, one at each end, design and make it to function under both extremes of water flow conditions, and test for fish survival. Once this has been done it could be placed under bridges with a Minimal amount of fuss, it would have to operate under flood conditions so full submerged!
My guess is that he's getting around 100-200Watts . Whilst that's not much... it's trickle heat and will take the edge off your heating tank over time, day in day out.
@@thomaspayne6866 indeed..one only has to imagine how much energy it would take to pump that water in reverse ,,,and take a good slice off for efficiency. My feeling is that with greater inclination of the screw he could gain 20% more, with a scoop of of a digger bucket
